Buy me a rose
by BellaRoslin52
Summary: Sometimes we get focused on living instead of focusing on what we are living for...
1. Chapter 1

**This takes place after Sharon and Andy have gotten married and she has retired from the LAPD…..**

They had caught another murder and it was taking a lot longer than he expected to finish up. Since Sharon and Provenza both retired,he had a lot to deal with the team being short - staffed. Since she had made the decision to retire from the LAPD, he had been working a lot of long hours and they hadn't had a chance to really spend any time together over the last few weeks. He had been too busy trying to keep everything running smoothly in the division while trying to give her time to adjust to being retired.

He was still surprised that she agreed to retire so easily., While he knew that she loved her job, she had told him on many occasions that she would love to retire and not have to worry about the day-to- day that came with working in a highly stressful job.

Shortly after she retired Provenza dropped a bomb on all of them by announcing that he decided to retire too. This threw all of them for a loop even though. Andy suspected that it was coming sooner rather than later.

Andy had begun to notice that his focus was on patrice and less on the job. Andy couldn't really blame him,. Patrice was a wonderful woman and she could handle Provenza better than anyone.

He had gotten home late.

He walked into find her peacefully sleeping on the couch. She had been waiting up for him to come home. He bent down and gently kissed her on the forehead as she woke up to find him smiling at her.

"Hi," she responded as he walked around the couch and sat down next to her.

"Honey, you didn't have to wait up for me., "I told you that I would be late coming home." She sat there staring at him before responding. "I know Sweetheart, I just missed you today."

"I was hoping to get to spend some time with you today.

She smiled sadly at him as he wrapped his arms around her, "I know Sweetheart. I was trying to get home so we could." "But I promise this weekend we will have the entire weekend together."

She smiled happily at him and got off the couch and made her way to the kitchen. He followed her and they sat at the kitchen table talking and drinking their coffee. She reached for his hand, "Honey let's go to bed it's getting late and I know you're tired."

He smiled at her as he brushed the hair out of her eyes, "Sounds good to me Honey."

They stood up and she led him down the hall to the bedroom.

After they had finally gotten ready for bed they both lay there both of them facing opposite walls. This had become the norm with them, they used to always find each other and but it seems like now that they aren't even on the same planet.

She laid in bed with her back to him as she starts crying Hearing her he rolled over., "Sweetheart, are you ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she said in between sobs.

"Are you sure?"

She managed to control the tears as she answered him, "Yes, Sweetheart, I'm sure." As he rolled back over her heart broke a little more as she faces the opposite wall and drifts off to sleep .

Several hours later, she found herself looking at the clock., She got up from bed and walked toward the living room. Without anyone moving around,the condo was eerily quiet. Rusty had moved out several months earlier. It was strange not having him around but she knew that he had to find his own place in this world. She was proud of him for everything that he had accomplished. She sat down on the sofa and listened to the quiet., Finally she made her way out on to the balcony and stared at the city below. She loved the view especially at night. She didn't know how long she had been standing there until she looked down at her phone and saw it was almost 5 am.

She made her way back into the condo and sat down on the sofa and thought over the last few years of her life.

Things had changed so much she and Andy had married. A few months later, Rusty moved out leaving them totally alone for the first time. Shortly after he moved out, she decided to retire which she had to admit to herself, was a huge shock even to her. She never thought she would retire. However, she thought that she would never get married again until Andy showed her what it was like to feel love and to be loved. She missed that,. She missed the random text messages and the random phone calls just to see how she was doing or just say "I love you."

Things had gotten into a pattern for them the last month or she was honest with herself, it made her feel like she had done something wrong or that he didn't find her attractive she got up and made her way back to the bedroom, she shook those thoughts from her head.

She walked into the room and noticed that Andy had rolled over facing her side of the bed; however, it looked like he never made a move to see if she was laying there. She gently sat down on her side of the bed, laid back and tried to let sleep claim her again.

A while later, she heard Andy starting to stir next to her. She lay there as he got up out of bed and made his way to the shower to get ready for work. As she heard the water running she made her way to the bathroom and opened the door to find him in the shower.

He looked up when he heard the door open. "Good morning, Sweetheart,." he said as he stood underneath the water.

She smiled at him,. "Can I join you?" she asked as she got closer to the shower door.

"I'm almost done, Honey I'm running late.," he responded missing the look of disappointment directed towards him.

"Oh Okay" she said as she walked back out of the bathroom and made her way back into the kitchen to start his coffee.

When she heard him walking toward the kitchen she was almost done making his coffee. He rounded the corner and grabbed the coffee cup from her. He drank it down as he moved around the kitchen. He paused his movement for a moment to kiss her gently on the cheek as he made his way toward the door. When he reached the door and turned around and faced her. "I hope you have a good day Sweetheart I'll see you tonight." he told her before leaving the condo leaving her standing there with her heart continuing to break into smaller pieces.

Emily came over to visit after spending the night at Rusty's new apartment.

She enjoyed spending time with her daughter.

They spent the day laying around the condo talking and laughing. Emily had noticed that her mother had been quieter than she had been in recent years and it had her worried. She decided that she was going to take a chance and ask her mom what was going on.

"Mom is everything ok with you and Andy?" She knew that she hit a nerve by the look on her mother's face.

She looked into the face of her only daughter She could not tell her what she was thinking and how she was feeling. So she took a deep breath as she answered "Yes, Honey, things are good." "Why do you ask?"

"You just seem like something isn't right with the two of you, "I'm just concerned that's all."

"Honey, things are good. You don't have to worry." "I'm just trying to get used to being retired now." " It's definitely been a huge change for me."

"That makes sense, Mom, "You worked in the department for a long time."

Emily seemed to believe her when she told her that things are good with Andy. She doesn't want her daughter to worry about them. She has her own life to worry about she didn't need to worry about her mother.

Several hours later, Emily left to catch a flight back to New York so she could get back in time for rehearsals. She enjoyed having her daughter home even if it was for a short time.

As her phone chimed, she picked it up hoping that it would be Andy. As she opened the text, she discovered it was from Rusty. He was between classes and wanted to check on her. She answered him back, laid her phone back on the coffee table and just stared at the walls.

A while later, she picked up their wedding album off the coffee table and opened it. She could feel the tears welling up as she looked at the pictures from that special day. There was so much love and so much promise between them.

That all seemed to be in past for them.

When he came home later that evening, she was still laying on the couch with their wedding album in her lap,. For a moment he stood there watching her. He had to admit that she looked peaceful she had been in the last month.

He finally reached over and gently shook her to wake her up,. "Sweetheart wake up,"

She woke up to see him standing over her smiling at her. "Hey," "What time is it?" she asked as she sat up yawning mid- sentence as she moved to an upright position.

"It's after midnight." "Honey I'm sorry I'm so late, but we finally caught a lead in the murder we've been working on."

He walked around and sat down next to her on the sofa,. He smiled at her as she moved closer to him and snuggled into his side. He yawned and stretched his tired muscles, "What did you do today?"

She looked at him as she answered, "Emily and I spent the day together., "Then she had to leave to make her flight back to New York."

"Sounds like you had a good day," he says as he stands up and starts walking toward the bedroom. "I'm going to bed Sweetheart It's been a long day and I'm tired." He stopped in the middle of the hallway as he turned to see her holding her head in her hands. He could hear her crying.

"Honey what's wrong?" he ask as he turns to walk back to the sofa.

She managed to get control of her emotions as he made his way "Nothing Don't worry about it., "It's nothing." "Let's just got to bed.," was the response. She got up and made her way to the bedroom leaving him sitting in the living room staring at her with a shocked look on his face.

After a few minutes, he made his way to the bedroom and walked in to find her with her back to him. He knew something was wrong but he was too tired to think about it tonight. But he would find out tomorrow what was wrong. As he made his way around the dark room he got changed and made his way back over to the bed and laid down. He would get to the bottom of this tomorrow he thought as he drifted off to sleep. He knew something was really bothering her. He would figure it out, he hated seeing her so sad and so upset.

The next morning he woke up to the sun shining through the window and an empty bed. He never heard her or felt her get out of bed. He sat up to look around the room and she was nowhere to be found. He got out of bed and made his way down the hall. "Sharon., Sharon., "Where are you, Sweetheart?" he called as he walked out the bedroom.

He walked into the living room to find her sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of tea.

She looked like she'd been up all night.

"Sweetheart, are you ok?" he asked as he sat down next to her She looked at him as she got up and carried her cup and saucer back to the kitchen. She walked back around the counter and looked at her husband., She didn't recognize the man in front of her. He had been around her all this time and still couldn't tell when something was wrong or when something was bothering her., She sighed and shook her head as she walked toward the bedroom.

As he had to get ready for work, he didn't have time to talk to her this morning. They had to follow up on the lead they received yesterday. He walked into their bedroom and went about his morning routine while she sat on the bed watching him. A few minutes later he made his way to her side of the bed and gently kissed her goodbye. "I'll call you later today and we can talk.," he whispered.

She smiled sadly at him as he left the room. _They would definitely be talking soon_ she thought to herself as she laid down on the bed and let the tears fall..


	2. Chapter 2

Sharon woke up to the sun shining through the windows of the darken bedroom. She sighed heavily as she rolled over to find an empty bed. She sat up and picked up her phone off of the table and sent him a text a few moments later her phone chimed with a response from Andy.

A: "Can't talk right now, how about later this afternoon?"

S: "Sorry didn't mean to interrupt your work, i will talk to you later today then."

A: " I'm sorry sweetheart, "I didn't mean it that way, Just really swamped at the moment." "I love you and miss you"

S : "I love you too, miss you too,"

She felt her heart flutter when he responded to her last message, maybe there was hope after all. She got up and went about her morning routine,

She made her way out into the living room and sat down on the couch staring at the walls. She was beginning to think that she wasn't attractive to him anymore or that he wasn't interested in her like he was when they first got married. She tried shaking those thoughts from her mind but they just wouldn't leave, she sat on the couch and cried, as she wiped the tears from her eyes she made her way out the balcony she loved it out here.. She heard her phone chime from the coffee table she walked back in to find a message from andy, he was checking on her, she smiled as she replied to his message laying her phone down she decided that she would make this night one they wouldn't forget.

He was sitting at his desk staring at the computer screen in front of him, they were no closer to finding their killer than the day before, the lead that they had turned out to be a dead end. He was becoming frustrated as he looked out the window of his office at the other detectives working at their desk, his eyes roamed around his office before landing on the picture sitting on his desk, he smiled as he picked it up, it was a picture of sharon taken the day after they got married she looked amazing in the white sundress and matching sandals. As he looked at the photo in his hands he started feeling guilty about how he had been treating her, He had noticed that something was off with her when he left this morning but he was in such a rush that he really didn't take the time to find out.

Several hours passed he finally made his way home to find the house strangely quiet as he placed his things on the table by the door he looked around for her she was nowhere to be found. He made his way down the hall and into the bedroom when he noticed the light coming from underneath bathroom door,. As he got closer to the door he could hear her singing. He stood there smiling, he opened the door as he stood there watching her she was relaxing a bubble bath with the radio playing the background. He stood there several minutes staring at the beautiful woman in the bath tub. He cleared his throat as he walked into the bathroom, she looks up at him as he sits down on the edge of the bathtub, "Hi sweetheart," he says as he plants a kiss on the top of her head, she lets out a deep sigh, "Hi, she responses. "Would you like to join me?" He looks her for a moment, "Not tonight sweetheart, i am so tired i just want to grab a quick shower and go to bed., With a frustrated sigh she stands up and steps out the tub and quickly changes clothes and walks into the bedroom.

She walks over to her side of the bed and sits down staring at the floor, "Andy honey can you come here for a minute?" She pleads, he steps around the bathroom door, "what is it honey?" He sees the sadness in her eyes and he lays the towel on the counter and walks into the room and sits down next to his wife, he reaches for her hand but she draws her hands away from him, "Honey what's wrong?" She looks up to see andy staring at her intently,. She takes a deep breath as she turns to face him, "Can i ask you a question?" "Of course honey what is it?"

"Do you not find me attractive anymore?" Have i done something wrong?"

He was completely floored, he couldn't believe what he was hearing, How in the world could she think something like that he thought to himself. She could see the wheels turning in his mind he was trying to find the right words to say she started to get up and he grabbed for her hand, she stepped out of his reach, "Sharon, sweetheart, come here please," she stopped mid step, and turned around to see her husband waiting for her to join him back on the bed, Sharon really didn't know what to say or what to think she was hurt and just wanted to be left alone, but on the other hand she wanted to know what she had done wrong.

She walked back over to the bed and sat down, as she next to him she looked down at her hands, "Sharon baby look at me please," She looked up to see the tears in his eyes, He grabbed her hand and held it as he started to talk, "What makes you think you did something or that i don't find you attractive anymore?" He had never seen her like this before so unsure of herself and so down,.

"You're the most amazing, absolutely, gorgeous woman i have ever met." I find myself having a hard time keep my hands to myself when you are around." He smiled at her but she wasn't buying what he was telling her so he held her hand.

He was watching her as she began to tell him what was bothering her, "We haven't been able to spend anytime together lately and it seems that you have been more worried about work than about me." "I know it sounds selfish of me to say that but that's how i feel, she said as he tightened his grip on her hand, "Sharon i am sorry about that i know that i haven't been around or been the husband that you deserve but i am trying to give you everything that you want," She gently touched his cheek, "Andy all i want is you, all of that other stuff doesn't matter to me," What matters to me is you and our marriage," Which right now seems to be going nowhere fast.

"I know me retiring put a lot of stress on you, but i miss the random phone calls and the random messages just say i love you or that you miss me." He hadn't realized that she was so unhappy, "Sweetheart, i am so sorry, "I promise that i will make it up to you." After a few minutes she let him hold her and as she snuggled into his side, as they sat together in the silence he made a vow that he would spend the rest of his life showing her just how much she meant to him and how much he loved her. She felt better after she told him how she felt and she hoped that he listened to her. Only time will tell…

{TBC}


End file.
